The present invention is in the area of electronic paging systems, and pertains more particularly to delivering alphanumeric messages to pagers.
At the time of the present invention the publicly accessible wide-area network well-known as the Internet, World Wide Web (WWW), or more simply the Web has demonstrated great success, and continues to grow at a rapid rate. Individuals, businesses, public and private agencies and the like are depending on the Web for quick access to information and for rapid transfers of large amounts of data of all sorts. According to experts and analysts phenomenal growth and development of new Web products is virtually certain to continue.
Also at the time of the present, invention, the use of paging systems continues to grow as well. Paging systems, as is well-known in the art, are systems wherein users may carry small electronic devices (pagers), which are receivers for RF transmitters arranged in matrices to cover a relatively broad geographic area. Information for an individual subscriber to a paging service is delivered to a central location controlled by the company providing the service, and broadcast to a matrix of regional transmitters covering the geographical area where the subscriber is likely to be. The information is keyed to the individual""s pager, and typically displayed on a small LCD screen of the pager. Transmission from the central location to the matrix of local transmitters is typically by satellite uplink and downlink.
The functionality of paging service differs in the type of information which may be delivered. In one familiar mode, one may call a paging company from a touch-tone telephone (or a telephone call may be diverted and forwarded to a paging service), and then enter (usually at a prompt) a telephone number for the intended recipient to call. The telephone number is then broadcast by the paging service to the matrix of transmitters and rebroadcast to be received by the intended recipient""s pager. The number is displayed on a display screen of the pager.
The telephone system described-immediately above is not very practicable, however, for longer alphanumeric messages. For systems that actually deliver messages instead of only return phone numbers, a different mode of delivering the message to the paging service provider is necessary. In many instances a paging terminal or special software operating on a PC is needed, wherein messages are entered from the keyboard associated with the terminal or PC, and then delivered as machine operable text to the paging service provider""s central location by means of a modem over the public switched telephone network (PSTN). In some few instances known to the inventor, users may send an e-mail message to an address not specifically associated with an individual. The e-mail message sent must have considerable routing information, such as paging network, PIN number, and the like relative to the intended recipient.
What is clearly needed is a simplified and direct way for users to send alphanumeric messages to recipients carrying pagers.
In a preferred embodiment of the-present invention a message delivery system is provided, comprising a WEB page on a WEB Server having an input interface adapted for a message sender to enter an identifier particular to an intended recipient and an alphanumeric message; a pager message preparation facility operating on the WEB server adapted to integrate the identifier and message from the input interface with data retrieved from a database, matching routing information for the intended recipient with the identifier, thereby providing a pager message for the intended recipient; and a pager message sending facility adapted to send the prepared pager message to a paging system to be transmitted to a pager associated with the intended recipient. The identifier can be any one of several pieces of information particular to the intended recipient, such as e-mail address, social security number, business phone number, and the like. In some embodiments the message delivery system is further adapted to return a message to the message sender via the WEB page, announcing result of the pager message transmission.
In another aspect a WEB page is provided, comprising an input interface for a message sender to enter an identifier for an intended recipient, which may be such as the recipient""s e-mail; and a signal input for the message sender to initiate forwarding the message to a paging service. In some embodiments the WEB page further an announcement field for announcing to the message sender success or failure of a pager message sent.
In yet another aspect a method for sending an alphanumeric pager message from a message sender""s computer is provided, comprising steps of (a) entering an identifier for the intended recipient, which may be the recipient""s e-mail address, in a first entry field in a WEB page transmitted to the sender""s computer from a WEB Server; (b) entering an alphanumeric message for the intended recipient in a second entry field in the WEB page; (c) associating the identifier at the WEB server with pager routing information for the intended recipient; and (d) formatting the alphanumeric message and routing information at the WEB Server into a form required for a pager message, and forwarding the formatted pager message to a paging system to be transmitted to the intended recipient. I some embodiment the method further comprises a step receiving a result of the pager message sent at the WEB server, and sending a result message back to the message sender via the WEB page.
Many advantages over current art are attained by practicing the present invention its various embodiments. For example, the sender does not need to know any routing information for an intended recipient, other than the unique identifier; and there is no need to enter such information. Further, the system is transparent to the sender as far as the recipient""s pager service provider is concerned, and seamless message sharing is maintained even if the recipient changes services, without having to send new information to all senders of messages., The change need be reported only once to the Message Express WEB Server.